Shadow Psychology
by Dante Morgan
Summary: Strange things have been happening in Twilight Town lately. Roxas finds out the truth behind what's causing it, but will anybody believe him? [On Hold; To be rewritten from scratch]
1. Chapter 1

In case you're wondering, yes, this story used to have a short 'intro' chapter, but I decided to delete it as it was just making things needlessly complicated.

Disclaimer: You all know the drill, I don't own any of the characters, Nomura does... Lucky bastard...

* * *

_Last night, another building suddenly collapsed without warning. Researchers still haven't been able to determine the cause of these strange events. Once again, the victim's bodies have been horribly mutilated. Nobody has the answer as to how several body parts have been disintegrated into nothing but blood and dust when there are no traces whatsoever of any explosive devices, even though that seems to be the only plausible explanation. The police released a statement saying..._

"Again? Just what the hell is going on around here anyway?" A blond boy wearing camouflage pants, black T-shirt and matching jacket was pacing in front of the TV, obviously agitated. "I mean, how can the police not have found anything by now? Things keep getting worse and worse and nobody does anything about it..." He kicked the innocent playstation controller lying at his feet before dropping down into the sofa. Anger faded from his features, only to be replaced with an expression of sadness and defeat. One that Roxas had seen way too many times over the last few weeks.

He reached out to his friend and let his hand rest on the boy's shoulder. "They'll figure it out soon, don't worry. Everything will turn out just fine."

Hayner slapped the blond's hand away, getting angry again. "How the fuck can you still believe that? They've been investigating for months without making any progress at all!"

When Roxas replied, the words came out of his mouth louder than he had meant them to, his patience having worn thin after all the times Hayner had snapped at him like that. "Listen, I know you're worried about your mom, but I'm on your side here, remember? I was just trying to make you feel better, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't fucking yell at me every time I open my mouth!"

The two looked at each other angrily, the corner of Hayner's eye twitching as he was about to bark right back at his best friend, but in the in the end he turned away. The boy broke down and started sobbing quietly, all will to fight gone.

Roxas didn't know what to do, he had never seen the other boy like this. Even the day his mother was admitted to the hospital, Hayner hadn't really shown any emotion.

"I'm sorry, Rox." His voice was shaky, and tears were rolling down his cheeks. "I know I'm being a dick."

"Well, with all you've been through the last few weeks you kinda earned the right to be a dick."

Hayner chuckled weakly, still crying.

"C'mere, you." Roxas put his arms around him, gently pulling him down so his head was resting on his chest.

Soon, the brown-eyed boy stopped sniffling, relaxing into Roxas' warm embrace.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

The other blond just muttered something incomprehensible in protest.

Cocky smirk in place, Roxas kept going. "You totally are. Admit it."

"Will you shut up, I'm not gay." despite what he said, his cheeks still turned red when Roxas nuzzled his face into his hair.

"You just keep telling yourself that, honey."

X-X-X

The next day, Roxas woke up with something warm and heavy on top of him. At first, he was relieved and happy to see it was Hayner. It wasn't long before he wished the boy would have fallen off somewhere in the middle of the night, though.

Do you have any idea of how awkward it is to feel how your morning wood is poking into your best friend's back? Now imagine what would happen if they happened to wake up just then. The blond squirmed as he got closer to waking up, which didn't help in the current situation. _For the love of god, don't wake up! Please, please I beg of you, don't-_

A long yawn could be heard as the boy opened his eyes. "Morning Rox. What's-... Ooooh." His lips formed a perfect 'O' as he realized exactly what it was that he was feeling. Slowly, his lips curled into a grin as his frame started shaking with the laughter he was trying to hold in.

"Okay, Hayner, would you please, for the love of fuck, get off of me? You're not exactly helping."

Saying that only made things worse, as his friend was now flat-out laughing hysterically, still refusing to get off.

"Are you really that happy to see me Rox?" He managed to get out before bursting out laughing all over again.

"Oh yeah?" With a strength Hayner obviously wasn't expecting, Roxas pushed him off the couch, the other blond instinctively grabbing on to his arm, resulting in both of them on the floor, with Roxas on top. "could say the same thing about you." He teasingly slid his clothed erection over the bulge in Hayner's pants, making the boy cry out in surprise. With a satisfied smirk, he got up, leaving a shocked Hayner behind.

"Now I'd like to see you deny being gay."

X-X-X

After breakfast (which had been pretty akwkard considering Roxas had just sexually assaulted Hayner), the boys made their way into town. After having seen the house that collapsed last night on tv, they had decided to check out the site for themselves.

After walking for a couple of minutes, which Roxas tried to fill by constantly pestering his friend about his sexuality, they arrived at the scene. The boys fell silent as they saw the damage to the house with their own eyes. Police tape and metal fences must have been hastily put up last night to mark off the perimeter, as to prevent people from getting to close and getting hit by falling debris. The entire front of the building was completely destroyed, while the backside was still in a relatively good state. You could still see a tv standing in the corner of what must have been the living room.

"So weird...", Roxas muttered under his breath, his eyes flashing in every direction as he examined the site.

Hayner looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

"On the news they said it must have been some sort of explosive device, right? But there's no way this was caused by an explosion." He turned around, now studying the buildings on the other side of the street.

"And who made you an explosives expert?"

The blond turned on his heel and threw Hayner an impatient look. "You don't have to be an expert to figure that much out." He walked back to what remained of the house, grabbing onto his friend's arm as he passed and pulled him along. "First of all, if a bomb had gone off here, there should be burn marks all over the place."

The teen just shrugged, not really interested in where his friend was going with this. "They could have just cleaned-"

Roxas ignored him. "Then, look at the building. An explosion strong enough to cause that kind of damage should have a much bigger blast radius, but the damage seems to be concentrated around here." He spread his arms as he said this, as if putting imaginary lines in place where pieces of the wall were missing.

He was right. Now that Hayner was taking a closer look, there was something off about this. "Well... you have a point there... But then what happened?" He looked at the other buildings, checking to see if there were any other clues. "Hey, Rox, you might actually be right about this!"

"Hm? Did you find something?" The rest of the buildings seemed fine. Except for...

"The windows, Rox! An explosion like that should have shattered all the windows too! And what about the people living here? Unless everyone in this part of town happens to be completely deaf, they had to have heard something!"

"So, what? Does that mean the police is just bullshitting us? Do they know more or is a terrorist attack really the best they could come up with?" He ran a hand through his hair as he thought. If it wasn't a bomb, the only thing he could think of, was: "Maybe something big fell on it?"

Hayner's jaw slightly dropped. "What? Do you think whoever is doing this can somehow carry a huge, extremely heavy object around, drop it on a building, pick it up again and just walk away without anyone noticing? That has to be the stupidest thing you've ever-"

Suddenly, Roxas' hand was clamped around the other boy's mouth, effectively shutting him up. "Shush! Someone else is here..." He let go off Hayner's face, and cautiously walked towards a piece of wall that was still upright.

"Damn, it looks even worse in broad daylight." Two men could be seen walking around the back of the house, seemingly investigating as well. One of them had long, black hair tied back in a ponytail, with a gray stripe running through it. When the stranger turned towards the other man, Roxas saw he was wearing... an eyepatch? "Why couldn't that damn thing just fall on the street, like it was supposed to? But nooo~, it _had_ to crash into a fricken' house."

"Shh! Not so loud Xigbar, people could hear us." A tall, silver-haired man with a dark skin tone came into view. He glared at his companion with piercing, amber eyes.

"Heh, sorry boss." The man named Xigbar flashed him a grin, but the taller man just cast his eyes skyward before walking into the ruin of the house.

Roxas turned away, putting his back against the wall and holding his breath. He glanced towards Hayner, who was doing the same.

"Hey, Xemnas! Take a look at this!" Even though he couldn't see them anymore, Xigbar's voice was easily distinguished from Xemnas'-as he was apparently called- much deeper one.

"Don't touch anything, you idiot! We already have enough problems, do you want the police on our asses as well?

He could hear the sound of footsteps as Xemnas headed towards whatever it was that had caught the other man's interest.

Everything went silent for a moment as the two men where distracted, so Roxas quickly peeked around the wall.

They were looking at some rubble, which didn't look any different from the rest to Roxas. The pair was now talking much softer, making it hard for the blond to understand them.

"Damn, it managed to leave some claw marks. The police is gonna be in for a shocker when they find this." There was a short pause as Xigbar waited for a response. When he didn't get one, he said: "should we hide it somewhere? Maybe they haven't seen it yet."

Again, silence. Eventually, Xemnas' voice could be heard again. "No. Let's just leave it here. It's not like they leave DNA traces or anything, the authorities will probably think it was caused by some other debris hitting it."

"If you say so. We should get going, though. Someone could show up any minute now."

"You're right, let's head back."

Roxas heartbeat rose as he heard them come closer. Apparently they were heading towards the street, and there were no places he and Hayner could hide. Luckily, Roxas wasn't one to panic in situations like these. He quickly grabbed the other blond's hand, and pulled him along. "So, you feel like catching a movie? I heard there's this really good one that just came out."

Hayner quickly caught on and continued the conversation, making it look like they were just passing by.

"Yeah, good idea."

They forced themselves to keep walking at a normal pace, as to not make those two men suspicious, but Roxas could just feel those amber eyes boring into his back as they walked.

X-X-X

* * *

Well, that was a lame ending. Don't worry, the next chapter will have more action.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. See you all next chapter!

PS: Happy New Years everyone!


	2. Chapter 2

I was planning on updating sooner, but this chapter just turned out a lot longer than I expected.

With that out of the way, enjoy.

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The second they turned the corner Roxas and Hayner broke out into an all-out sprint, trying to get away from those two as fast as humanly possible. They didn't stop running until they reached the sandlot, which was on the other side of town. Needless to say, the boys felt like their legs would fall off when they finally stopped.

"I... Hate... running." Roxas managed to get out while taking deep breaths.

They stayed there for a while, Roxas with his hands on his knees and Hayner just shamelessly lying down on the ground, arms and legs spread out.

After managing to regain their composure a bit, they started talking about what had happened a few minutes earlier.

"Those two obviously know more about this." Hayner said, stating the obvious. The other blond nodded in agreement. "'It managed to leave claw marks'? What did he mean by that?"

"Beats me. And they said that whatever did this didn't leave DNA traces... Can you make any sense out of that?"

Roxas turned to look at two kids that had started a Struggle match on the wooden stage. He was doing his best to think of anything that had claws, didn't leave DNA, and was powerful enough to wreck an entire house. Oh, and somehow managed to do that without anyone noticing. So far, his brain couldn't come up with any results.

One of the kids hit his opponent square in the jaw with his Struggle bat, causing blue colored orbs to fly all over the place.

He heard Hayner chuckling beside him. "That had to hurt."

"What a total loser."

Hayner and Roxas turned around, coming face-to-face with Seifer and Rai.

Immediately going on the defensive, Hayner turned to Seifer, crossing his arms as he sent him an angry look. "What do you want Seifer?"

"You need to learn to show some respect when talking to Seifer, y'know?" Rai grinned deviously as he started cracking his knuckles. "I'm sure you'll watch your mouth after I'm through with ya, y'know?

"Don't worry Rai, I'll learn him some manners." The teen casually readjusted his beanie before walking over to Hayner, bending down so their faces were mere inches apart.

Roxas saw this as his cue to intervene. "Knock it off Seifer! Just leave us alone!"

Now the leader of the 'Twilight Town Disciplinary committee' turned his attention to Roxas, grinning wickedly. "So, the little fag thinks he's though, huh? You need to learn your place!" Seifer's fist swung through the air, headed for Roxas' jaw, but the blond managed to dodge it with lightning reflexes, and was even able to plant his fist in the other teen's stomach. Despite Seifer's impressive abs, the punch still had the desired effect. Seifer had a look of total surprise on his features as he gagged and dropped to the ground, sitting on one knee. He put a hand on his stomach as he tried to catch his breath, and stared at Roxas with pure malice in his eyes.

"You son of a-!" Rai stomped over to Roxas while gritting his teeth in anger. The blond prepared to defend himself, but knew it was futile against an opponent as strong as Rai. Seifer got back on his feet, and was now getting ready to beat the boy's face into a bloody pulp.

Hayner stepped in between them, ready to take the blows in his friend's place, when suddenly a curly-haired brunette followed by a rather overweight boy intervened.

"What's going on here? Are you guys at it again?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at every one of them. "Seriously! Learn to get some self-control!"

Pence walked up behind her, giving of the impression he had just finished a bloody marathon while in reality he been running for maybe ten seconds.

Olette wasn't done with her rant just yet, though. She stomped over to the two bullies, her glare alone being enough to make them take a step backwards. "Seifer Almasy! How many times have I told you to stop acting like you own the town? You're acting like a total jackass!"

Everyone, even Seifer, seemed deeply shocked at the fact that Olette had just used a curse word. Roxas could see Hayner's jaw nearly hitting the ground.

"And you two!" She turned around in the blink of an eye, now facing her friends. "What is wrong with you? Why do you always have to start a fight? Is it really that hard to just ignore him?"

Roxas felt like he was in back in preschool, getting a lecture from the teacher for gluing Seifer's hand to his face.

"He started it...", Hayner mumbled weakly while stubbornly staring at the ground, not wanting to meet Olette's eyes.

She just rolled her eyes at the childish remark.

"Yeah, who's side are you on anyway?" Roxas crossed his arms and gave her a questioning look.

"I'm just trying to stop you from being at each others throats all the time." She glanced down at her wristwatch, making a surprised face at how late it had gotten. "Let's just head to the Usual Spot and hang out there, alright? We'll pick up some sea-salt ice-cream on the way."

They turned around to leave, but Olette walked over to their two rivals, who still hadn't budged an inch all this time.

She stopped when she was right next to Seifer. She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to be having trouble voicing her thoughts.

"What? Just spit it out already." Was the teen's curt response.

"I just... I wanted to ask..." She took a deep breath, as to mentally prepare herself. "How's Fuu doing?"

A look of sadness adorned Seifer's features as he answered. "...She hasn't woken up yet... and she still has those episodes at night. They've been getting more frequent lately..."

Roxas and Hayner just stared at each other. Know they knew the reason for why they never saw the violet-haired haired girl around anymore. Apparently she had the same illness Hayner's mother was suffering from.

"...Well I hope she gets better soon... And I'm sorry about calling you a jackass."

"That's okay. Guess I deserved it." He flashed her a rare grin before turning around and walking off with Rai, leaving Olette behind with her friends.

X-X-X

Back at the Usual Spot, the topic had of course been about what Roxas and Hayner had found during their 'investigation' of the collapsed building. When they still couldn't come up with any answers after half an hour of speculating what those two men could have been talking about, the teens decided to just give it a rest and listen to Pence, who had been dying the tell them what he had found out while walking around town today.

"I heard two women talking about what happened at the hospital last night. Apparently all the people who have that weird disease started screaming and having spasms at the same time! The doctors couldn't handle it anymore!"

"What? All of them?"

"Yeah, but most of them calmed down quickly enough. Though they had to tranquilize a few people when they were still yelling after like fifteen minutes."

"But still, they all started yelling at the exact same moment? That's so creepy!" Olette pulled up her legs and wrapped her arms around them, shivering slighly.

"But that's not all I heard." Pence leaned forward and looked at his friends one by one to make sure they were paying attention. When he started talking, Roxas noticed he was using the same voice he had used when telling them about the seven 'wonders' of Twilight Town. "You know the police believes those collapsed buildings were the result of bombings, right? Which in turn led to people believing that there's some terrorist organization attacking us at night."

He paused as he briefly locked locked eyes with them again. "Well, they say there was a man wearing a black cloak spotted in the forest, heading to the old mansion."

Hayner knocked his chair over as he stood up abruptly. "What? So there really are terrorists?"

"I didn't say that, calm down." He waited for Hayner to sit back down before going on with his story. "The guy had his hood on, so whoever it was that saw him wasn't able to get a clear image of him."

Roxas felt that Hayner was close to jumping up again, so he decided to try and calm him down. "Let's not blow this out of proportion, alright? For all we know, he could be an investigator or something like that."

Everyone was silent for a while as they thought. Investigator or not, the man must have gone to the old mansion for a reason.

"Well then. There's only one way to find out, right?"

"What are you talking about, Hayner?", Olette asked suspiciously.

"I say we go to the mansion ourselves."

"Are you out of your mind? That's dangerous! What if there are terrorists there?" the brunette jumped up just like Hayner had done moments before, knocking over the drum can she had sat on. She stared at the boy incredulously as the drum can fell to the floor with a loud bang before rolling away.

"Then we get the hell out of there and call the police. Come on guys, we finally have a lead! We can't just ignore this!" He looked around expectantly, but the others didn't appear too thrilled with his idea.

"Hayner, she's right. It's just too dangerous", Pence added to what Olette said.

"You can't be serious!" He looked at them like like he couldn't believe they weren't prepared to risk their lives by walking right into a potential terrorist hideout. "Guys! This could be our chance to stop more attacks from happening!" Not getting any response, he decided to drag Roxas into this.

"What about you Rox? Are you going?"

He sighed deeply before looking at the desperate teen. He understood how Hayner must be feeling right now, finally having the chance of actually doing something useful after all the time he had waited powerlessly for the authorities to take care of it.

"I'm sorry Hayner, but they're right."

The blond seemed to deflate as Roxas, who had been his last hope, rejected his plan.

Roxas could see anger and hurt in Hayner's eyes as he spoke, a part of him feeling like he had just betrayed his best friend, while the other; the more rational part, knew this was the right thing to do.

"Fine then. Since none of you seem to give a fuck, I'll go by myself." He headed towards the exit, but was almost instantly stopped by Olette's hand pulling on his arm. "Hayner, no! Don't do this!"

Hayner apparently couldn't care less about what she had to say, and roughly pulled his arm loose before running of.

"No! Hayner!" She wanted to run after him, but Roxas already dashed right by her, intent on stopping the boy at any cost.

Hayner might have gotten a small head start, but Roxas would be damned if he would let him get away because of that. He knew that the other teen had better endurance than him however, so he would have to catch him fast, or he wouldn't be able to catch him at all.

They both sprinted down the stairs leading to the sandlot, jumping off at the last few steps. "Hayner! Stop running, you dickhead!"

Hayner just kept going, already having reached the Tram Common.

In a spike of energy, Roxas was able to close gap between them as they were nearing the hole in the wall that lead to the forest. Using the last of his strength, he jumped forward, successfully latching onto the other blond's arm just as they entered the woods.

The teen faceplanted on the ground, pulling Hayner down with him. _"well, that was graceful"_, he bitterly thought to himself as he pulled his face out of the dirt.

He crawled over to the other boy, who seemed to have calmed down quite a bit after his head came in contact with the ground.

Hayner was just lying there, staring at the sky until Roxas' head came in view.

Said boy was now pinning him down on the ground. "Don't. Ever. Do that again."

Hayner just looked away from him, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"You asshole! I care about you way too much to let you risk your life over something this stupid!" He still didn't get a response, though he did see the look in Hayner's eyes soften a bit. "I know you hate feeling useless, but is that really worth-"

"Yes! I already told you Rox, this has been going on for months and nothing's changed! My mom and all those other people in the hospital aren't waking up and I wanna know why!" He turned away again after his outburst. "Get off of me will you... I won't run."

The boy obliged, releasing the vice-like grip he had on his friend's arms and standing up, offering a hand.

Of course Hayner didn't take it, being the stubborn asshat he is. He just stalked off towards the town without another word, Roxas following him.

X-X-X

"Hayner! Thank god!" Olette jumped up from the couch she had been sitting on and practically squeezed the live out of Hayner with a bone-crushing hug. "You idiot! Do you have any idea what could've happened?"

The teen gave her a weak grin as she released him. "I know, I was being a retard."

The curtain blocking the entrance rustled as Roxas entered the room as well.

The brunette gave him a quick hug too, thanking him for bringing their friend back.

They all sat down, Pence and Olette still throwing a nervous glance at Hayner every now and then, as if they were afraid he'd run again if they let their guard down.

The silence stretched out as Roxas contemplated on how to he would phrase the new plan.

"Hayner and I had a talk on the way back." He eventually started, trying to sound casual.

"We're going going to the mansion."

As expected, this statement was met with a storm of protest from Pence and Olette, which was quickly silenced by Hayner ("Just shut up for a few seconds and hear him out!")

The blond mouthed him a quick 'thank you' before continuing. "We know this could be dangerous, so we're not going to force you two to come along, but Hayner and I are going. We know it's crazy, but since the authorities have proven themselves completely useless, we don't really have a choice.

Besides, this is the first chance we've gotten to actually do something useful! We can't just let that pass by!"

There was a strong determination in his voice, making it clear that there was no room for discussion.

Pence just looked at his feet, but Olette stared at him intensely with those green orbs of her. Eventually, a soft smile appeared on her face as she came to a conclusion. "There's really no way for me to change your mind about this, huh?"

"Nope", both blonds answered in unison.

"Well, I guess that settles it, then. I'm going with you."

Hayner, who had been mostly silent up 'till now, seemed pretty uneasy about this. "Olette, you don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. I've learned by now that I can't leave you alone without you getting in some sort of trouble."

She turned to look at Pence expectantly, waiting for him to speak up.

He briefly glanced at the other members of their gang before sighing. "Well, if you're all going..."

X-X-X

Roxas didn't sleep too well that night. Somehow, he had gotten his parents to agree with letting all of his friend's sleep in his room. Their plan was to stay there to 3AM, as to make sure everyone would be asleep, and then head out to the abandoned mansion.

For their 'mission', Olette had brought two cans of pepper spray, walkie-talkies for all of them, and flashlights. Where she got it, nobody knew. And she wasn't planning on telling them anytime soon.

The few times he had managed to doze off hadn't lasted very long, and would always end with him jolting awake. This time was different however.

He didn't really feel like he was sleeping. The blond opened his eyes, expecting to see the ceiling of his room, but he was met by a slightly different view.

He was standing in the middle of a street. It looked familiar, but he wasn't sure where he could've seen it before. He was pretty sure he was somewhere in Twilight Town, but the atmosphere seemed completely distorted. Everything around him seemed to be radiating an eerie, purple glow, allowing him to see clearly despite the fact that there were no street lights working. Roxas looked up to see a full moon shining down on him, which was also purple in contrast to the usual white. Pitch-black shadows randomly appeared at times, moving over the concrete, but vanishing shortly after.

Roxas knew this had to be some strange, fucked-up dream, but it all felt so real to him at the same time...

He noticed strange sounds in the background, which were getting louder the longer he stood there.

His brain seemed to be springing into action, making him come to the realization that standing in the middle of a road wasn't a very smart thing to do. The blond hurried to the sidewalk, the realization of where he was slowly dawning on him.

He was standing next to the building that collapsed last night.

Suddenly the ground started shaking, and a deafening, inhuman roar echoed through the streets.

The boy jumped before frantically looking around, for the origin of the sound as his heart hammered in his chest. What he saw, nearly made it stop altogether.

An enormous dark beast was navigating the maze of buildings, black tendrils covering most of his face, except for two intensely glowing yellow eyes. There were two wings on it's back, although they were too small for it be able to fly, and it had a gaping hole in it's chest, right where it's heart should be.

Oh, and it was heading straight towards him, by the way.

Every fiber in his being was screaming at Roxas to get away from there, but his legs wouldn't budge. He just stood there, paralyzed by fear, as that monster came closer and closer.

A dark substance was leaking out of wounds all over it's body like blood. The beast halted, as something on the roof of a building nearby got it's attention.

Splotches of black appeared on the road it stood on as the liquid continued to trickle down it's body.

"Over here, fuckface!"

Roxas, still standing on the exact same spot, looked up to see a man with long black hair blowing in the wind and an eyepatch over his right eye, standing casually on the roof. Xigbar.

Two guns appeared in his hands out of thin air. He aimed them straight at the creature's head, pulling the triggers.

A spray of purple lasers erupted from them, each of them boring into the thing's face before they blasted apart in a flash of light, leaving gaping holes were more black 'blood' was soon leaking through.

Angered, it balled it's claw-like hand into a fist before slamming it down onto Xigbar.

Roxas wanted to scream, tell him to watch out, but no sound made it past his lips. He clenched his eyes shut, expecting to hear the roof being destroyed, maybe even hear the horrible sound of bones breaking as the man got crushed, but everything stayed completely quiet.

He reopened his eyes, confused as to why nothing happened, and saw a silver-haired male standing where Xigbar had been just moments before. He recognized the figure as Xemnas.

The enigmatic man had one of his arms raised, as if he was attempting to push the beast away. Surprisingly, it worked.

The dark giant was pounding relentlessly into a blue barrier, trying it's hardest to reduce his opponent to a bloody pulp. So far, the only visible effect his punches had on the shield was that glowing, white tiles appeared appeared shortly after each consecutive strike. While it was preoccupied with doing that, Xigbar appeared right next to Roxas, seemingly aiming for it's neck. He acted like the boy wasn't there, not even throwing him a quick glance, or asking if he was okay. Instead, he let loose another barrage of light arrows, almost all of them hitting their mark, making the beast growl in anger. It focused on Xigbar again, said man dodging as another giant fist came crashing down on him, but Roxas just stood there, terrified. His eyes were wide with fear as he waited for the impact that would surely end his life.

Again, the dark giant's punch failed to connect. Another one of Xemnas' shields?

No.

It had gone straight through the boy without causing any harm whatsoever. The beast quickly pulled his arm back to block some of Xigbar's repeated fire, revealing the crater that was now under Roxas' feet.

The fact that he didn't fall in, but was instead floating over it, was all the more proof that none of this was real. That didn't stop Roxas heart from working overtime as adrenaline was being pumped through his system.

Xigbar's momentary distraction had given his ally an opportunity to attack. Xemnas jumped off the edge of the roof head-first, two red lightsabers protruding from his palms. Wait, what?

The boy blinked, but he had seen it right the first time. There was a slight suspicion forming in his mind that his friends had drugged while he was sleeping.

The man used his momentum to pierce the 'skin' at the base of the giant's neck with his weapons as he landed roughly on it's shoulder.

It dropped to it's knees, howling in pain. He tried to bat Xemnas away like he was an annoying fly, while Xigbar appeared right between it's legs unnoticed.

Roxas just stared, not understanding how the man had gotten there, since he had been right next to him just a second before that. _Fuck it. Nothing makes sense here._

The black-haired man unleashed another volley of lasers, again heading straight for it's face. Roxas turned away once more as the beast's face was ripped apart by the resulting bursts of energy, the tar-like liquid pouring out onto the ground.

It let out a final, pained grunt towards the purple sky, before slowly tipping over to the right. It crashed right into the house, taking the entire front wall with it as it went down.

The two men shielded themselves from the debris and dark smoke that erupted from the building, but Roxas didn't even bother, just letting it pass straight through him. He was too entranced by what he saw. Except for the giant beast that was fading back into the shadows, everything was almost exactly the same as when he had come to investigate together with Hayner, up to the TV standing in the left corner of the first floor.

"Quick, we have to-"

"No! We're out of time!"

"Dammit! Let's go, hurry!'

Roxas turned around to see two dark portals sealing shut just as his surroundings started to light up, becoming brighter and brighter until only a golden light remained.

X-X-X

With a sharp intake of breath, Roxas Strife woke up, back in his own room, with his friends right next to him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Roxas... Roxas!"

He faintly heard a voice calling out to him, but decided to ignore it. That was becoming increasingly hard to do though, as the voice got louder each time it called his name.

"Roxas, wake up dammit!"

The sudden sensation of falling made his eyes snap wide open, just as his ass connected with the floor. "Ow! Dammit, Hayner!" He glared at the other blond as he rubbed the offended part of his body.

"Hey, don't blame me, you wouldn't wake up." He turned around and walked over to Olette, who was doing a last check-up of the supplies they would be bringing along.

"You didn't have to throw me out of bed for chrissakes..." When he saw Olette pulling a can of pepper spray from her backpack, he remembered what they were going to be doing in the next few hours. He snapped out of his daze, picked himself up off the ground, and started putting his clothes back on. He was fully awake within minutes, despite having slept for only an hour or two.

Now fully clothed, the teen sneaked out into the hallway, tiptoeing over to his parents' room. Standing at the door, he was relieved to hear the sound of their steady breathing. Quietly, he went back to his room.

By now, Olette had finished her check-up of the equipment. She, Hayner and Pence were standing at the door, looking ready to go.

Roxas gave her a nod, telling her he was ready to leave too. He was very cautious not to make any noise as he walked down the stairway, even though he knew there was no need to be, considering he wasn't wearing shoes. Doubts began creeping into his mind as he walked. Were they really doing the right thing? Should he have just rejected Hayner's plan? Was he needlessly risking his friends' safety by doing this?

"Roxas!" Olette's hushed voice stopped his train of thought. "What are you waiting for? Open the door already!", She whispered, not understanding why he was just standing there.

"Oh... yeah." He turned the key around, the usual 'click' that signaled the door was open sounding so much louder than usual.

The group of teens left the warmth of the house, and checked the streets for any police wandering around. It would be kind of hard to explain why four teenagers were wandering the streets at 3AM, with flashlights, enough pepper spray to bring down an army and a pair of walkie-talkies.

"Okay, looks like no-one's here. Let's go." They silently walked through the empty streets, checking behind every corner to make sure they wouldn't be seen.

Having reached the tram common after a couple of minutes, they stopped one last time to make sure nobody had any second thoughts about this.

Naturally, Hayner wasn't going to change his mind now, and Roxas would never let his best friend do this alone, so they both nodded at the others simultaneously, signaling they would be going.

After seeing the two blonds giving their confirmation, Olette nodded as well. After all, god knows what those two would get themselves into without her watching over them.

That just left Pence. The boy looked unsure of what to do, opting to look at his feet as he thought.

Olette gently put her hand on his shoulder, making him look up at her. "It's okay if you don't want to go. Nobody's forcing you."

"Yeah," Hayner piped up, "you'd be the smart one if you went back now."

Pence just smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm going. I want to know what's going on here."

Roxas smiled back at him. "Well, guess we're all idiots then. Let's go."

X-X-X

As soon as they passed through the hole that separated the forest from the city, the group became visibly tense with the sudden change of atmosphere. Up until now, they'd had at least the street lights to light the way, but now their only means of seeing where they were going was the flashlight Olette had stored somewhere in that gigantic backpack of hers. The small bundle of light wasn't that much help, though, and the shadows it cast on the forest ground occasionally scared the shit out of them. They silently followed the near-invisible path, being too worked up to say anything to each other.

They had walked down that same path dozens of times, but everything looked completely different in the dark. Roxas was starting to worry about them getting lost.

"Remind me again why we couldn't just do this during daytime?" Pence's voice suddenly broke the silence that had been stretching on for the last five minutes, startling the others.

"Because we can't risk anyone seeing us. What would we have done if Seifer and Rai saw us heading into the forest? Or if anyone saw what was in my backpack? It's not exactly regular camping stuff", Olette supplied after recomposing herself; she had nearly dropped the flashlight when her friend spoke up. It was clear she was on edge, probably even more so then the others.

They walked for a few more minutes in a silence that was only broken by the occasional owl flying up, or branches that snapped under their feet.

Roxas was getting sick of it. He had thought they would've been there by now, although his perception of time was probably off due to the tension. It would be nice to be able to see the mansion looming in the distance, so he would at least know they were walking in the right direction.

"Hey, guys, can we take a break? I'm really starting to feel-"

"Feel what? Pence?" The blond never did find out what Pence felt. He turned around, and the sight before him nearly made him go into cardiac arrest. His friends looked like they were frozen in time, Pence's mouth still open like he was in mid-sentence, and Hayner rolling his eyes at the boy not being able to keep up with them, like usual.

Roxas didn't really have much time to freak out though, since right after that, the sound of glass breaking pierced the eerie silence, followed by waves of black mist crashing into him.

He tried desperately to find some sort of cover as the blackness washed over his body, but in his panic he tripped over some tree roots and hit his head on the tree attached to those roots, making him see stars. He dropped to his knees, tightly clutching his head and clenching his eyes shut as the pain fully set in. As the pain slowly ebbed away, until it was just an uncomfortable throbbing feeling, he became vaguely aware of movement around him. The blue-eyed youth reopened his eyes, screaming loudly and flinching away as dozens of tiny black creatures stared back at him. He crawled backwards, until he felt the bark of the tree pressing into his back. Those things had completely surrounded him, and more were materializing right in front of him, appearing out of nowhere.

A rain of purple lasers suddenly descended on the little black demons, obliterating a good chunk of their numbers. He snapped his head up to see a man sitting on one of the higher branches of another tree close to his position.

"What're you doing just sitting there? We need to get the hell out of here!"

_That voice!_

Xigbar jumped down, falling a good six or seven meters before landing between Roxas and the creatures, completely unharmed. Roxas noted he was wielding the same dual guns he had seen in his dream just a few hours ago. Also, everything was once again illuminated by that strange purple light, recreating the circumstances of the dream. The man continued shooting at the small black creatures that were swarming all around them, slowly inching closer. It was obvious the enigmatic man was fighting a losing battle; no matter how many shots were fired, their numbers weren't thinning. In fact, more and more popped up with each passing second. It was only a matter of time before they would be overrun by them.

Shakily, Roxas got to his feet. His heart hammered in his chest as he saw hundreds of yellow eyes hungrily, almost longingly watch him.

"I'll clear a path, follow me!", the man barked at him. He concentrated his fire in the direction of the mansion, turning around every now and then to shoot the ones that tried to sneak up on them.

After a while he had to admit his plan wasn't working. Despite Xigbar's relentless onslaught, they hadn't made any progress whatsoever and those little black demons were only a few feet away. "What the hell are those things?" he yelled at the man behind him, as one of them looked straight at him, tilting it's head almost quizzically. Roxas almost didn't recognize the voice that left his mouth; it was much higher than usual, and panic was evident in every word.

"They're Heartless!" He responded as they switched places so that he could shoot the ones on Roxas' side.

To the boy's relief, the one that had been looking at him dissipated into black smoke as Xigbar's light arrow pierced it's skull. _Well, assuming they have a skull, of course._

Remembering his friends were here too, unable to move at that, he tried to find them, but saw only empty space where they had been a few minutes ago. For a second he assumed the worst, but then saw three almost unnoticeable golden lights.

"Your friends are safe kid! Those things can't touch them while they're in that form!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the knowledge that at least his friends would be safe helped him calm down quite a bit.

"This isn't working..." Roxas heard the black-haired man mutter behind him. "Then what do we do now?", he yelled back.

"Get ready to run, kid." He crossed his arms over his chest, so that the guns pointed towards the sky, and closed his eyes.

"What the hell are you-" He shut himself up as Xigbar was enveloped by a purple aura. The teen could feel the power radiating off of him, and watched in amazement as the spikes beneath the barrels of the guns, which he assumed contained ammo, flared brightly. Xigbar reopened his eyes, aimed both weapons at the horde of Heartless before him, and pulled the triggers.

Roxas cried out in shock as a barrage of lasers, each one the size of his fist, was unleashed. Unlike before, they exploded when they connected with their targets, instead of just dissolving. The landscape was unrecognizable within minutes: craters were everywhere, the grass was scorched, and two or three trees had fallen over, crushing even more of the black creatures, after having their trunks blown to shreds.

"Go!"

Roxas didn't have to be told twice. He sprinted after the other man, jumping over the holes in the ground, occasionally using his sleeve to wipe off the dirt that got in his eyes as Xigbar shot more of his explosive ammo. The man also didn't need to stop and reload anymore, like when he still fired normal lasers, so they just kept on running while he blasted everything in sight.

X-X-X

Completely exhausted, the pair finally stopped running when they reached a small clearing. The mansion was within view; just a few more meters and they would be safe.

The Heartless had given up the chase, so they decided to rest for a minute.

Xigbar let out a deep breath as the light enveloping his guns faded. "Glad that's over."

Roxas dropped to the ground, his legs unable to keep him up anymore after all the running he had done. Now that his initial panic was over, the boy wanted some answers. "What the hell's going on? Why is the sky so messed up?" He asked, gesturing to the purple moon. "And what happened to my friends?" He glared at the man, waiting for him to start explaining.

Said man sighed, releasing both of his guns and making them fade back into nothingness before he dropped to his ass too. "Those things that were attacking us, the Heartless, are creatures from the Dark Realm. Normally they shouldn't be able to cross over into our world, but the walls separating the realms are weakening, causing cracks to appear. Occasionally, those cracks cause a portion of that wall to completely break down, and the dark energies from the Dark Realm pour over into our world, twisting it into what you see now: the Shadow Sector, as Xemnas calls it.

"To answer your other question-" He started, seeing Roxas already opening his mouth, "-most humans, and any other living creatures at that, become Shades within the Sector, since their bodies can't handle the overload of dark energy."

The teen took a moment to process the information he had just received. "So, those strange lights I saw back there, those were my friends? In shade form, I mean?"

The man smirked. "Bingo. You're a smart one, kid. You catch on pretty fast."

"You also said that _most _humans become shades. I'm gonna take a guess and say we're the exception?

"Yup. Us and Xemnas that is. He had been defending the town from the Heartless all by himself, months before I was even aware of their existence."

At the mention of the name Xemnas, an image of a tall, intimidating man with tan skin, hazel eyes and long silver hair popped into his mind. "Xemnas... that's the guy you were investigating that building with, right?"

If possible, Xigbar's grin turned even wider. "So you _were_ spying on us. I knew it! Xemnas said I was just being paranoid, but I was right after all!" Still grinning, he pushed himself off the ground so he stood upright again. He extended a hand towards his companion after dusting himself off, offering to pull him up. "By the way, you still haven't told me your name. You're probably gonna spend a lot of time with me and Xemnas from now on, and I can't exactly keep calling you kid."

"It's Roxas." He replied as he accepted the hand, effortlessly being pulled up. "And don't you dare make any lame-ass word jokes about it, 'cuz I swear I'll strangle you with your own eyepatch if you do."

"Ooh, kitty's got claws! I like you already", He joked, draping his arm over the boy's shoulders as they started walking towards the mansion.

"Did you just call me-" For the umpteenth time that night, Roxas was stopped in mid-sentence, this time by Xigbar's hand clamping over his mouth.

A feeling of dread enveloped him as Xigbar shushed him. Instinctively, he knew what had happened.

"They're here."

The teen's heartbeat quickened again as he saw those empty yellow eyes looming within the shadows created by the trees. They had been completely surrounded while they were busy talking. Roxas felt so stupid, becoming increasingly angry with himself. Safety was mere meters away. If he hadn't been so damn stubborn, demanding an explanation from Xigbar, they would've just rested for a moment and then continued running. They would be in the villa, out of the Heartless' reach. But now, they were trapped. There was nowhere left to run.

"Dammit, those are Soldiers!"

Roxas' eyes widened as seven humanoid creatures wearing silver helmets stepped onto the clearing.

Slowly, they moved closer, their movements erratic, those beady eyes locked on them. _Their prey..._

"I won't be able to fight them. I used up all my energy during our little escape attempt. Hell, even if i hadn't, i still wouldn't be able to take on this many..." He looked down at the boy, realizing he still had his hand over the teen's mouth. He quickly let go, opting to put it back on his shoulder instead. The poor boy was trembling, the fear of dying evident in his eyes, his breathing irregular.

He had no other choice.

"Hold on thight, kid." Roxas' deep-blue eyes locked with Xigbar's gold. "I've never tried bringing someone else along with me." Darkness erupted at their feet, black wisps began cirkling the air around them.

Doing as he was told, Roxas fisted the black material of Xigbar's coat, at the same time feeling the older man tightly wrap his arms around him as the darkness completely devoured them both.

* * *

I know, I haven't updated in forever. This chapter just refused to be written. I've stayed up 'till 3AM for four nights in a row to work on this, and it's still utter crap.

Anyway, after two pretty boring chapters, we're finally getting somewhere. Roxas got some explanations, but now Xigbar pulled him along through a Corridor of Darkness, with no clue of what the outcome will be. You all know he's gonna be fine of course, but still. Getting sucked into a dark abyss with no guarantee you're gonna make it out alive has to be pretty freaking scary, right?

Oh, on a sidenote, I removed the prologue/intro-thingy. It was just making things needlessly complicated.

I'll try my best to crank out one more chapter somewhere next week, and finish my other story (I'm horribly stuck with that, hence the reason I updated this first), since I'm going on a three-day trip to Paris after that. For school, by the way. With teachers accompanying us. I'm undoubtedly going to have so much fun there. *insert massive sarcasm quotes here*


End file.
